September 10, 2011

I was asked by TIFF Nexus to create some pixel art of the TIFF Bell Lightbox (located on King & John St in Toronto) for their Chiptunes Orchestra project at Nuit Blanche 2011. The piece was used for some of the event’s promotional material, including online posters and a promo video. You can see the details of their project here.

Technically, the piece you see above (the same one I handed to TIFF Nexus) is unfinished. There are a lot of details on the east side of the building that I was unable to complete in time, but they gladly took what I had without any questions. The posters they produced with this art are a lot flashier, featuring some glowing neon typography and a large building-sized Game Boy in the empty space behind the building. I actually created the Game Boy for them as well (it was a later request), but much prefer the version you see above.

Last but not least, I have a lingering theory that might be of some interest to you. While I was working on this piece, the TIFF Nexus initiative was just starting up and was without any sort of official branding. After showing them the isometric direction I was going with this piece, I noticed their branding also started to take on a very isometric look. Take a look at the TIFF Nexus website to see for yourself.

The piece was lovingly created in Photoshop over a few nights of staring at isometric grids and reference photos of the building. My neck was sharply tilted downwards for many of those hours staring at details, so I may need some chiropractic attention.